Hi New Parkway Lovers:
Django Unchained and the Academy Awards party got us back on our feet and now we’re ready to race into March with a full head of steam. We’ve got a couple new movies, some new theme nights, fun rep stuff, and all new café and bar hours. You can find it all at 474 24th Street and also online at www.thenewparkway.com, with free parking, good food, lots of beer choices, and cozy couches. Here are the highlights of this all too long newsletter:
First Friday/Art Murmur—Tomorrow night is art murmur and we’ve got lots of great stuff for you. We’ll have food, music, and two theaters with local filmmakers. If you’re a regular Art Murmur goer, you know that we’ll be the cozy alternative from the Telegraph Avenue chaos, and that we’ve got the most toilets on the strip. And you’ll want to know that we’ve got a special 24th Street attraction where if you visit five places along 24th Street and get a stamp at each, you’ll be rewarded with a whole bunch of goodies, including free movie passes to the New Parkway. So come see us for more information or visit one of the other participating groups: Sweet Bar Bakery, Ink Well Tattoos, Kitchener Oakland, and/or Creative Growth. Please note that our super duper free parking lot is NOT available on First Fridays, but it is open every single other night and all weekends.
Sing Alongs—In addition to the regular showings of Les Mis—and we’ve got those—we’re going to do two special shows where we encourage you to come and belt out the songs, or at least where it’s OK to do so. There won’t be a bouncing ball and no singing is required, but it will be a chance for you to take your singing outside of the shower. Sing along shows on Friday late night at 11:30PM and Sunday evening at 7:45. Come dream a dream with us!
Midnight Showings—In addition to Friday’s sing along, we’ll also have the outstanding Blazing Saddles as our midnight show on both Friday and Saturday, as well as The Wiz on Saturday night. Which brings us to…
Michael Jackson Lives On!—Michael Jackson is back on the silver screen—actually three times this week—for The Wiz. We’ll be showing it twice for our New Parkway Family Classics, 4PM on Friday and 12:30PM on Saturday, as well as a more adult-focused version at 11:55PM. The movie is still G rated when you see it at night, but Diana Ross will be oh so much sexier. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
Café and Bar—Starting tomorrow evening, the New Parkway’s café/bar will be open to the public on weeknights and weekends. So you can come by for food and/or drink at any time. We’ve got great food, very reasonable prices, good selection, and the soon to be famous $7 Mystery Meal. Check our website for our café hours or just come by before, after or instead of a show. You also might like…
Weeknight Café Activities—Starting on March 4th, not only will there be food and drink in the café, but we’ll have activities running Monday through Thursday evenings:
· Music Monday: we’ll have live music and beer tasting on Mondays on the mezzanine. So come hang out with our beer expert and try the 7-9 beers that we’ve got on tap, all for $5. Beer tasting starts at 7:30 and repeats every half an hour or so, as long as there are drinkers in the house.
· Trivia Tuesday: we’ll have team trivia happening each Tuesday night from 7:30 to 9. Come alone or come with a group, and we’ll have a couple rounds of pub trivia with prizes at the end for the winning team.
· Happy Artsy Wednesday: since we open a bit earlier on Wednesday and it’s 2 for 1 day, we’ll have a 5-7PM Happy Hour with special champagne cocktails followed by arts and crafts from 7:30 to 9. Not quite sure what’s on the docket for each week but certainly some hands-on art activity for all.
· Retro Thursday: Thursday is Parkway Classics night, honoring decades gone by, so we’re going to go retro that night with classic board games, older music, and maybe our staff will even dress up. Or maybe you will!
Foreign Cinema Night—I’m excited to announce that we’re starting a new theme night dedicated to foreign cinema on Mondays in prime time. We’ve had a pretty phenomenal response to our Tuesday Documentary Night—to our great surprise if we’re being honest—so we’re continuing to be bold with films from afar (hey, that sounds good…maybe that will be the name of the series). We’ll open on Monday with the City of Lost Children (or whatever that is in French), and then we’ll have the second installment of Oppa Oakland Style with the Korean hit, Memories of Murder.
Soccer—It’s time to call in sick or somehow take a day off of work. We’ve got Real Madrid and Manchester United going at it for all of the marbles (at least for this stage) at 11:45 on Tuesday. Doors will open at 11:15 for lunch and high quality Euro on Euro action. Free admission.
And now here’s what Adam’s got to say about our features:
Hi All,
After a weekend of obnoxious celebrity self-celebration, the 'Award Season' has officially drawn to a close. It was a bit of a mixed bag this year. Ben Affleck must be sitting in his lounger with a wide shit-eating grin on his face. After being ignored for even a Best Director nomination, Affleck has spent the last month collecting award after award for 'Argo' while watching the 'illustrious' Academy freak out that they made a major mistake. And what better way to remedy that error than giving the Best Picture to a movie that apparently was directed by Casper the friendly ghost.
Elsewhere, Quentin Tarantino deservedly scooped his first solo Oscar (he had to share Pulp Fiction credit) for the wonderful 'Django Unchained' that you still have the opportunity to experience on the big screen thanks to the Parkway. You can also see Anne Hathaway in a very sorry state in 'Les Miserables' while drinking multiple beers (I find it necessary to watch musicals drunk with the exception of Bugsy Malone). Read on for more info.
Django Unchained
Let's face it. If you are not a Tarantino fan, this is not going to be the movie that changes your mind. With Tarantino you can usually expect certain things. Revenge theme. Over-the-top cartoon violence. Witty screenplay. Good story. Fun acting. The violence can be a kicker for some people. But for those who can handle it, this movie is a real delight.
Christopher Waltz continues his great form from 'Inglorious Basterds' as a bounty hunter who uses and trains Django (an excellent Jamie Foxx) and helps him find his wife. But Leonardo Di Caprio steals the show as the 'intellectual' slave owner Calvin Candie. He is worth the price of admission alone. But this is epic stuff and one you won't want to miss on the big screen. Westerns like this don't come along every year so enjoy it while you can.
56 Up
The Up Series is a series of documentary films that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old. The documentary has had eight episodes spanning 49 years (one episode every seven years). It is almost like time lapse photography but applied to humans. And it makes for absolutely fascinating viewing. It does not move like a normal movie. Rather, it just shows the effects of time on normal people and allows you to reflect on your own life.
Capturing the human development of 14 people over the last five decades is a monumental achievement and one that is truly worth seeing. Examining the progression of their lives, we see insights and changes that have affected them. Another worthy documentary hitting 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, this is excellent and well worth your time.
Les Miserables
Warning: If musicals are not your 'thing' this might not be for you. If musicals are your thing you probably have seen this a few times already. If musicals could be your thing, you are the perfect audience for this write-up. Les Mis is probably the most popular musical ever made. It has been made into countless (well, six) film adaptations. This has been widely thought of as the best film adaption ever made of Les Mis (in fairness, it had a 16% chance). The best reason to see this? Normally when filming a musical the actors mime like they are Beyonce and then sit back in their Malibu mansion and record the vocals later that week. This time, Tom Hooper (The King's Speech) mixed things up and recorded everyone singing live.
So now you can see Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Maximus (Russell Crowe), and Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) hit some high notes with full knowledge that it happened live. Personally I think I just described a way more fun movie than Les Mis. I am picturing Wolverine and Catwoman helping Maximus in the Coliseum against tigers. Sounds gripping. But this version of Les Mis is pretty good too.
John Dies in the End
Based on the popular comic horror novel, this movie is unique in a lot of ways. It is difficult to compare it to other movies because nothing before has really captured this offbeat, funny, and visually interesting world. 'A drug (Soy sauce) promises an out-of-body experience with each hit. Users drift across time and dimensions. But some who come back are no longer human. Suddenly a silent invasion is underway, and mankind needs someone to step up.
This movie is absurd in a fun way. With interesting comic book visuals, and a quirky story this is definitely one movie you can watch to get over the mind-numbing blandness of 'Battleship' that I had the misfortune of seeing last week. It was like I was stuck in 'A Clockwork Orange' and wasn't allowed to change the channel.
Adam
And now for the other cool things at the theater…
New Parkway Family Classics—this week we’re showing the Wiz but we’re also switching the Saturday start time moving forward. So instead of the movies starting at 11, they’ll now start at 12:30. Doors will open at noon, at which time the full kitchen will be open, so you’ll be able to come in for family-friendly movies and family-friendly food. Yum yum all around. So to recap, the first showing is Friday at 4 (pizza and concessions only) and the second one is Saturday at 12:30. Join us!
Spectrum Queer Cinema—We’re excited to have Spectrum Queer Cinema back on Sunday at 3PM for its presentation of Pageant. This multi-award winning film presents a behind-the-scenes look at the 34th Miss Gay America contest where fifty-two ordinary gentlemen go to extraordinary lengths to be crowned as winner. PAGEANT follows five of the most talented and beautiful female impersonators as they prepare to dominate in this underground competition. Featuring stunning musical numbers, this movie dives into the heart and soul of this make-believe world: the men behind the make up. Hear from the contestants themselves and those who accompany them on this quest: husbands, mothers, sons, and little brothers. Advance tickets at: http://spectrumfilm032013.eventbrite.com/
Thrillville-- JOHNNY LEGEND personally presents his classic compilation TV IN ACIDLAND, a two-part, 3 hour hodgepodge of the strangest moments from the hidden history of the boob tube, featuring a wide variety of famous faces exhibiting bizarre behavior. This the first of Johnny's monthly guest host gigs in Thrillville. 6PM on Sunday. Advance tix at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/318415.
Baby Brigade—Every Monday at 4:30 and 6:30, we’ve got baby-friendly showings, those this week’s offerings are likely too long to have the baby sleep through the entire show. 56 Up at 4:30 and Les Mis at 6:30. Hopefully the kids won’t be Mis, and hopefully getting you to the movies will make you a little less Mis too!
Doc Night—Tuesday Night’s Doc Night brings us West of Memphis, a critical examination of the criminal justice system in the US. So good that it got a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, so come on out to see a great movie that will teach you something while entertaining you (lots of those at the New Parkway, we’re happy to report). Advance tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/342787.
2 for 1 Wednesdays—All day Wednesday, 2 for 1 admission prices with movies starting at 3:30.
Parkway Classics—Will the Thrill's PARKWAY CLASSICS presents that masterpiece of musical rebellion QUADROPHENIA (1979), based on The Who's legendary 1973 rock opera, about Mods vs. Rockers in swingin' mid-60s Britain. Fire up the Vespas... Thursday, 9:30PM. Advance tickets coming soon!
Thanks for your continued and growing support of the New Parkway Theater. We think we’re building a pretty cool community space, adding new things each month, and it’s all thanks to you!
Moses
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